Sunday, August 16, 2015

Visit from John & Barbara

We were so excited to get a visit from John and Barbara Clements the first of August. They were on their way to the New England states and visited some of Barbara's relatives in Chillicothe so we were lucky enough to be included in their travel plans. Barbara actually has ancestors she was looking for in Vinton County. We told her that some of our work had already gone online and sitting on our living room couch she found them. Since they left I have come across more records of those same ancestors I am sending to her. We have come across some Clements in the records just recently but don't know if they are related to either of us. Barbara taught me some things that are a wonderful help to me so the visit was all around wonderfully productive. I would love to spend a week following them around learning from them, they are such a wealth of knowledge in family history work..

We are hoping to tag along with them when they come to Utah next February for Roots Tech.This week end we had a special Stake Conference with Quinten L. Cook. The Saturday morning session was just for the missionaries. It was so fun to see the sea of dark suits. The picture was taken an hour before the meeting started and already the number of missionaries was impressive. Many, many more were outside and in the cultural hall catching up with prior companions. The bear hugs between companions was so fun to watch. There was certainly a lot of love going around before the conference started. These missionaries work so very hard out here and it must be discouraging at times but they are having the time of their lives and loving it.

The message that helped me most was when Elder Cook described a spectrum with complacency at one end of the spectrum and perfectionism at the other. He said the sweet spot in the middle is what we should aim for and called it righteous discontent. It's in that spot that we recognize the atonement and can be kind and forgiving of ourselves and others but still strive to be better.
David has his last (hopefully) lazier treatment on his eye this coming week. He is seeing better but still not as good as he needs to see. We will ask about the need for a new prescription for his glasses, maybe that will do the trick.We figure we have 5 1/2 weeks of work left on the probate records. We have heard from Family Search and the records I submitted were almost all approved for digitizing. As soon as the contract is signed we should be getting that field order. Our supervisor called us and told us of a Sister in Columbus that might come to learn the camera an take over for us when we leave at least until another couple puts in their papers that can come to replace us. We haven't heard from her, though so we hope that is going to work out. It would be difficult for her, I would imagine, to make the 1 1/2 hour drive from Columbus to do this work, especially being a single sister. Part of the road between here and there could be treacherous in winter. The picture of the road above is along that road. We love driving the roads between here and Columbus and here and Chillicothe because they are so beautiful as you can see.
In trying to find an inactive member here we found the covered bridge above. Vinton County is famous for it's covered bridges. It is also famous for the quilt barns. Of course they especially delight me.
Our mission has gone so fast we just can't believe we have just less than 3 months left. Where did the time go? We have certainly loved our work here and the people here are so choice! Of course the landscape is just incredible! We were so blessed to have been sent here!
Thank you so much for your support! Your prayers for more help with the document prep work have brought wonderful results. We have been blessed with great help most every day and sometimes we have had the help of two or three, not counting the missionaries that come every week. What a great turn-a-round that has been! One of our helpers has agreed to meet with the missionaries. We can't wait to see how that goes.
We love and miss everyone so much but it won't be long and we will be together again! Keep up the prayers and we will do the same. We know we can trust our Heavenly Father to hear and answer our prayers.